Reviews are the most valuable trading currency in the
internet world. Whole businesses are based on user evaluations, fortunes and
misfortunes are largely influenced by the number of stars obtained , by average
ratings and by more or less positive comments. When we buy on Amazon it is
often the number of comments, the average of the votes and the reviews that
convince us whether or not to buy a product and make us choose a retailer
rather than another.
Power to the people, some will say, but also enormous responsibilities,
which can really affect the future or survival of some companies. But what
happens when companies try to influence reviews? How many of these are true? Is
it possible that some products always have the highest marks? Can votes and
comments really be piloted?
Marketplace and reviews
Amazon has been a leader in the e-commerce sector for years,
producing, selling and shipping products of various kinds. It does this in
total autonomy, creating the goods itself or buying it from other retailers.
But Bezos' creature is also an impressive showcase for traders .
For years now, many companies have used Amazon channels to
advertise and sell their products. The portal gives visibility on its pages,
companies advertise and then take care of selling and shipping their products
to users.
A huge business opportunity that many companies have not
missed and that almost always brings new earnings and new buyers. However,
Amazon in this case only offers its site and does not act as a
"guarantor" in relations between companies and users, it does not
care, does not manage and moderate them, it keeps its distance, although it
still offers its guarantee from A to Z in after-sales .
When we know that a product is shipped by Amazon we have
some sort of guarantee on its reliability, we can somehow trust it. On the
other hand, when we enter the Marketplace and entertain relationships with
external companies, there is only one way to create trust and push us to buy:
reviews .
Power to the people?
The Internet has had the merit of giving a voice to
everyone, of opening the door to the opinion of those who live there and those
who live there every day. A showcase visible to all of opinions, advice and,
indeed, reviews. Most of the business on the internet is driven by people's
opinions.
Everything on the net is judged and we all, at least once,
have left our comment on something. In this way average votes are created, the
various types of opinions are weighed , we try to understand what the majority
preferred and what was not liked.
On the Amazon Marketplace, the average rating, represented
by the five stars, and the comments are essential to understand the goodness of
a product and to encourage us to purchase. Many companies have based their luck
on the success they have had with buyers while others have been literally sunk
in negative reviews.
An apparently democratic economic process , but which is
increasingly oriented and tampered with by the companies themselves, ready to
do anything to be successful and to be evaluated with the much-coveted five
stars.
The investigation
A recents investigation by the Wall Street Journal uncovered
a disturbing phenomenon about negative reviews. Suspicious of companies with
perfect average points in their ratings, they decided to dig deep into the
methods used to obtain them. The starting point is always one: not everyone can
like it or, at least, rarely everyone can be 100% satisfied with what they buy
.
The Journal explains this perfection of judgments in a very
simple way: Negative reviews are simply erased . More and more companies
contact unsatisfied users and offer exchanges of goods, partial or total
refunds, vouchers and so on and so forth. The goal is always the same, to push
dissatisfied buyers to cancel negative ratings or even write new ones that are
totally positive.
The real problem in all this is that companies are often
able to contact users privately via email, violating the rules of the agreement
in place with Amazon itself.
The Scott case
The US newspaper brought to light the case of Mrs. Scott, an
American user who had purchased an oil bottle with a built-in vaporizer.
Dissatisfied with her purchase, judged to be malfunctioning, she had entered a
negative review. From that moment the manufacturing company started contacting her
via email, asking her to cancel the negative review in exchange for a full
refund . The woman's failure to respond led to email storms with the same
request.
Exasperated by months of more or less the same messages, the
woman decided to accept the refund, but refused to remove her review. At that
point, the company decided to relaunch, offering a refund of $ 20, double the
amount paid for the purchase. According to the Wall Street Journal, Scott's is
far from an isolated case.
It is a practice carried out by many realities , who decided
to do everything to have only positive reviews on their products. The real
problem is that this behavior violates Amazon's most basic privacy policies: if
the company does not share users 'email addresses with companies, how do they
trace the buyers' private contacts?
Privacy, this unknown
Unfortunately, companies have almost all the data they need
to trace the direct contacts of users who decide to buy from them. Just enter
your name, surname and address on the web to almost always go back to the
social pages or email addresses.
The five-star craving of these realities is so insatiable
that some entrust the task of tracing users to computer companies expert in
email extraction services , that is, capable of finding people's private emails
through the use of a few simple data.
The company in the case presented by the WSJ was naturally
banned by Amazon itself, but this measure came only after the journalistic
investigation . For months, Amazon itself had ignored all the reports sent by
poor Mrs. Scott. The Seattle giant defended itself by talking about its
constant control against fake reviews by inviting users to make comments and
reviews only anonymously.
However, many are asking Amazon for greater responsibility
and greater control. The company, for its part, claims to be just a showcase.
But should its control and the guarantees of honesty required of companies be
greater?
The fake positive reviews
What is certain is that the business of fake reviews is
getting bigger and bigger. Companies are willing to do anything to defend their
image on the web, aware that a negative trend could bury them permanently .
To avoid this, they not only violate the contract signed
with Amazon, bypass user privacy and also rely on scammers who, in exchange for
money, offer endless sequences of positive reviews.
The scandal that emerged a few months ago speaks of entire
companies, later eliminated by Amazon, which used complete packages of
purchases and fake positive comments . A consolidated scam system, which
offered guaranteed five stars, truthful and credible reviews, comments capable
of influencing users and boosting satisfaction.
Scams that undermine the credibility of a system that is
starting to show its first and huge flaws. We believed that people's
unquestionable judgment would make the internet and the e-commerce world a
better place, but apparently we were wrong.
What solutions?
It is therefore necessary to arm yourself with a critical
spirit, be wary of overly enthusiastic comments or totally negative reviews. As
users we must try to make the most of the weapons we have available , not to be
influenced by the judgment of others and to use our heads to evaluate. Does a
product look good to us? Let's buy it. Isn't that what we imagined? We use the
sacrosanct right of withdrawal and ask for a refund. The real problem remains,
of course, interfacing with companies that are always different and often do
everything they can to avoid meeting us.
Here the intervention of Amazon would be welcome , which can
no longer continue to hide under its being a showcase for thousands of
companies around the world. Amazon must offer more guarantees, and something is
already starting to move on this , but it must also monitor the quality of the
retailers it offers its portal and verify that they respect the rules. Buying
on Amazon, even from external retailers, must be as secure and scam-proof as
possible .
You may or may not like the products, but the rules must be
enforced. Cases like those of Mrs. Scott and the false positive reviews are
distortions of a system that Amazon knows it needs to fix. If our judgment has
a weight, the balance that supports it must also be as precise and tamper-proof
as possible.
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